Leading Edge Slats

[cainbird]

I have seen a couple pictures floating around of a model 4 with leading edge slats and wingtip stol fences. There are a couple pics of it in the thread titled "The Perfect Kitfox". I am rebuilding a 4 myself and am interested in what these mods did to lower the stall and also did it affect the cruise adversely. I guess I would like to hear the good the bad and the ugly of these mods. Anyone know anything about it or who owns it? Thanks in advanced~Cain Blackbird

[Av8r3400]

How slow do you want to fly?

My unmodified IV-1050 will stall with flaps down at ~35 mph. I can maintain controlled flight at ~40mph...

[cainbird]

I have always been interested in the effects of slats. They have been used on some very sucessfull designs over the years, Helio Courier, Ch-701, the Mackey Super Cub even some airliners use retractable slats. I am not disputing the slow flight qualities of the Kitfox as I have owned 2 of them myself. I am just wondering if anyone knows how they would work on a Kitfox and it appears someone has already done it. I would like to find out what I can from the owner of that plane before I spend a bunch of time experamenting myself. Watch a video of the Mackey Super Cub, it's pretty awesome to see what a slatted wing can do!

[Newkid]

This is the most info I have ever found on that Kitfox- http://www.backcountrypilot.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=3520&hilit=+slats

If you ever watch any of the Valdez STOL competition videos, Paul Claus always beats out the highly modified Cubs with a stock 160 hp Cub that is as light as it can be.
http://www.eaavideo.org/video.aspx?v=102143888001